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BRUCE ALMIGHTY!

We could have sworn Winnipeg held the patent on clownish behaviour this year -- until the Argos added their own sideshow to the Bombers' three-ring circus

By: Randy Turner

24/07/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 3

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Circus kvetch: Argos receiver Arland Bruce is whining it up under Toronto's big top. (CANWEST NEWS SERVICE)

So who do the Toronto Argonauts think they are, anyway? The nerve.

Coming in here with their circus sideshow where they've had to suspend their star receiver and even though there's a crucial division matchup nobody even wants to talk about the game. How very sad.

I mean, all this turmoil and distraction is so Cleveland Browns.

Seriously. What kind of zany, mixed-up world do we live in where a head coach spends 90 per cent of a press conference trying to douse a raging controversy -- and it's NOT Mike Kelly.

Yet there was Argos head coach Bart Andrus methodically explaining why the Argonauts had decided to leave home wideout Arland Bruce -- who has always been a few yards short of a first down, no offence -- for a combination of general misbehaviour, childishness and one Gawd-awful end zone celebration.

For good measure, Bruce, a former Bomber, fired back at Andrus through the media.

"He's trying to make an example out of me, but he can take that back to NFL Europe or wherever he was coming from," Bruce griped in the Globe and Mail. "For him (Andrus) to take me out just bothers me and shows me he doesn't know what's going on with this team."

Now this is where it gets really weird. Because when Andrus, the rookie head coach, was asked about the situation by reporters Thursday... he answered their questions. What's up with that?

"Fire the questions," Andrus said. "And I know what they're about."

On suspending Bruce: "He exhibited behaviours this last week that we felt we had to take disciplinary action on. He's not being singled out. It's not about Arland Bruce, it's about any player on our football team who chooses to do the things he chooses to do will be reprimanded and disciplined.

"This is a job and guys are expected to do their job. It's unfortunate that he chose to make it a public thing."

And how's this for irony: The same week the Argos suspended Bruce, the club worked out (and passed on) Derick Armstrong, who was first suspended, then released by the Bombers after refusing to play in Week 1 when the veteran receiver found out he was not listed as a starter in Edmonton.

Hey, all Bruce did was show up late for (and miss) a few meetings, lose a playbook on an airplane and perform the Worst. Michael. Jackson. Tribute. Ever.

So, naturally, Bombers head coach Mike Kelly, perhaps flummoxed by the lack of a sideshow in his own backyard this week, was left to address some of the growing pains inherent in rebooting the ingrained attitudes with a new regime -- similar transformations taking place in both franchises.

Turns out, Kelly wrote a couple of papers during his days a few years back as a college professor. One was called Coaches as Agents of Change. Another thesis was titled The Motivation and Handling of Difficult Athletes.

Now, we'd forward either one to Arland Bruce, but he'd probably just leave it on some airplane.

However, it did shed some light on some of the trouble spots associated with the culture shock that can accompany change in philosophy or method.

"Culture is a hard thing to change," he said. "But you have to have a plan and a mindset and a vision of what you want your environment to be. And each coach tries to establish that."

For example, Kelly recalled that when Joe Gibbs replaced Steve Spurrier with the Washington Redskins, he went so far as to fire every secretary in football operations. (Don't worry, Diane Hoeschen, he LOVES you.) "He just wiped out everything," Kelly said.

"So those difficulties arise whether it's at the secretarial level, the players level, the coaches that you keep from the old staff. The thing that you have to do as a leader is to articulate your thoughts as to what your vision is and what environment you want to have every day."

Derick Armstong is long gone from Winnipeg. And you have to believe that Bruce's days in Toronto are numbered.

Obviously, Kelly and Andrus can empathize with the other's predicaments. But Andrus stopped short of soliciting any advice from his Winnipeg counterpart when it comes to the disgruntled Bruce.

"We'll handle it in-house," the Argos head coach said, coyly parroting Kelly's most recent thrust and parry with the media. "It's a non-issue."

OK, enough already, Argos.

Get your own act. And we'd better not see a Toronto scout taking notes at a Bombers practice next week, either. You gotta draw the line somewhere.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 24, 2009 C1

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3 Comments

Posted by: majikmonkie@gmail.com

July 24, 2009 at 11:20 AM

I seems to be a consensus with most people I've talked to that the only people around here who don't want to talk about Football are you guys....

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Posted by: D Hue

July 24, 2009 at 9:35 AM

Hilarious article. Oh how the CFL is giving us the unexpected this year. I love it. I guess if we can't win some games, at least we'll be entertained.

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Posted by: gregjoyal

July 24, 2009 at 9:29 AM

I'd still like to see Bruce back in Blue and Gold. He is one of the premiere athletes in the CFL and deserves a little respect.... he's not a Casey Printers one-year-wonder.